Dutch decimate Spain, refereeing raises a furore at World Cup

Defending champions Spain were left battered and humiliated with the Netherlands handing them their worst loss in 51 years even as blundering referees took some sheen off the exhilarating action on day two of the FIFA World Cup here.
Spain crashed to a hitherto unexpected 1-5 loss to the Netherlands, a team they had beaten four years ago in the World Cup summit clash to lift the trophy for the first time, in South Africa.
The group B encounter turned out to be quite a goal feast with Dutch veterans Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben, both 30, turning back the clock with two brilliant efforts each to leave the Spaniards dazed and in disbelief. This was the worst defeat suffered by a defending champion team in World Cup history.

The Dutch side literally toyed with the holders to avenge their 2010 World Cup final defeat in Johannesburg as Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben both scored twice. Stefan De Vrij was the third scorer for the Dutch side in the dramatic group opener.
It is worst defeat for Spain since its 6-2 thrashing at the hands of Scotland in 1963. It is also first time since 2002 that defending champions have lost the opening game.
France had lost to Senegal 0-1 in Seoul in 2002 but they were not mauled as badly as Spain were in this game.

In other matches, Mexico shrugged off two contentious off-side calls in the first half to beat Cameroon 1-0 in Group A at Natal while Chile scored an impressive 3-1 win over Australia in another Group B contest at Cuiaba.

Chile's win means that Spain's title defence has become even tougher as it will be a challenge for them to cross the first round and even if they do so, they may have to contend with formidable Brazil in the round of 16.
Even as the footballers were busy setting the tone for what is promising to be a cracker of a tournament, some sheen was lost when for the second day in a row, the referees hit the headlines for controversial calls.
For the second time in two days, a controversial penalty was awarded, Spain benefitting from that, while a couple of offside calls seemed too harsh, Mexico being the side at the wrong end of the stick.

Referee Nicola Rizzoli ruled that Diego Costa had been fouled by Stefan De Vrij and Xabi Alonso had no problem in slotting the shot past Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen. The replays, however, made it quite clear that there was very little contact between Costa and de Vrij.